Each year the Confederation of Professional Golf give awards to acknowledge outstanding achievements and contributions in the world of professional golf – Peter Ball, this year’s recipient of the President’s Grow the Game Award for excellence in the development of the game, is a truly deserving winner.
Ball has a career spanning more than 30 years, coaching and developing the game in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom and latterly in the City of Sheffield, including working with a range of young people, women and girls, people with disabilities, as well as coaching elite-level players.
His efforts in designing development programmes were the first in the UK to promote the inclusion of golf within the National Curriculum, and he is also known for his work piloting the English Junior Golf Development Scheme in the 1990s, all helping to lay the groundwork for much of the advancement of the game throughout the United Kingdom.
In 2003 he was the recipient of the ‘Sir Henry Cotton Award’ for meritorious service to junior golf and it is a testament to his continued dedication and enthusiasm for the game that almost 10 years later he is once again being recognised for his efforts.
The coach was presented with his award at this year’s Confederation of Professional Golf Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner, hosted at Hotel Vila Galé Lagos, on Portugal’s Algarve:
“I would like to thank the many golf professionals, teachers, volunteers without whose help this award would not have been possible,” Ball said.
“As Coaches, we never know the lasting effect we have on young people, or the impact that is felt by their family, and for this I am very proud to be a PGA golf coach”.
Ball was described by the PGA of GB&I, the body that nominated him for the award, as truly representing the ‘heart of golf’ by being an introducer, a promoter and a coach of the game, making him fully deserving of the award.
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The Confederation of Professional Golf Annual Congress Gala Awards Dinner also included the presentation of the following awards:
- Lifetime Achievement Award – Tony Jacklin CBE
- The John Jacobs Coach of the Year Award – Dominique Larretche
- Special Recognition Award – Leif Ohlsson
- Christer Lindberg Bowl – Glenmuir
- 5-Star Professional Award – John Barnett
For updates, information and news from the Annual Congress 2012, visit the Annual Congress Hub Page, follow @PGAsofEurope on Twitter, or like the Confederation of Professional Golf Facebook Page.
The 2012 Annual Congress was supported by Glenmuir, Associação Turismo do Algarve, Hotel Vila Galé Lagos, Onyria Palmares Beach and Golf Resort, the European Ryder Cup Development Trust, and Rolex – For more information on our partners, visit http://bit.ly/SkAMWD.
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